# Julia Shaw on Reddit (u/Dr_Julia_Shaw)

Part of Scientists on Reddit, researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-07. Interactive version: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/scientists-on-reddit/julia-shaw

Julia Shaw: Psychologist who studies false memories.

- Reddit account: [u/Dr_Julia_Shaw](https://www.reddit.com/user/Dr_Julia_Shaw/) (AMA only)
- How we know it's theirs: [The 2016 r/askscience AMA, posted from this account](https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/452fm7/)
- Where they post, in the records we retrieved: r/askscience (40), r/science (40), r/Futurology (10), r/neuroscience (3)
- Known activity in the posts we found: 2016 to 2016
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Shaw_(psychologist)

## Moments

### u/Dr_Julia_Shaw in r/askscience, Feb 10, 2016 · Explains things

Replying to a redditor:

> What is an area outside your direct expertise where you secretly suspect people routinely form false memories?

> Everything! The question isn't whether our memories are false, it's how false are our memories. COMPLEX and full false memories (of entire events) are probably less common than PARTIAL false memories (where we misremember parts of events that happened), but we already naturally fill in so many gaps between pieces of memories and make so many assumptions, that our personal past is essentially just a piece of fiction.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/452fm7/comment/czuy9rh/ · 139 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/Dr_Julia_Shaw in r/askscience, Feb 10, 2016 · Behind the scenes

Replying to a redditor:

> Has learning about this stuff changed how you use your own memories?

> While I was always cautious about memory accuracy (as far as I remember, hah!), now I am convinced that no memories are to be trusted. I am confident that we create our memories every day anew, if ever so slightly. It's such a terrifying but beautiful notion that every day you wake up with a slightly different personal past.

(Excerpt.)
Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/452fm7/comment/czv0pby/ · 107 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/Dr_Julia_Shaw in r/askscience, Feb 10, 2016 · Explains things

Replying to a redditor:

> I was wondering how you feel about "flash-bulb" memories, which are supposedly seared in our minds and harder to misremember. The intro textbooks said it happens but I've read studies that said they were just as vulnerable, if not more. As an example, a writer found that many…

> Flashbulb memories, such as vividly remembering the twin towers get hit during 9/11, are indeed susceptible to all the same kinds of memory errors as any other kind of memory. As you say, they may even be MORE prone to distortion because we often have absurdly high confidence in them, they seem incredibly vivid, and we usually repeat these memories over and over again.

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/452fm7/comment/czv52a2/ · 19 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/Dr_Julia_Shaw in r/askscience, Feb 10, 2016 · Explains things

In the thread "AskScience AMA Series: I’m Dr. Julia Shaw, a memory scientist and criminal psychologist. I study how we create complex false memories. AMA!".

> I like to call these early childhood false memories "stolen" memories. Many of these events probably did happen, you were just told the stories by loved ones and you appropriated them in a way that now makes them feel like your own. I actually write about being a "memory thief" here: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/holiday-dinner-with-false-memories-for-dessert/

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/452fm7/comment/czv462h/ · 12 points as of Nov 7, 2026